Letter-box



(No Model.)

P. J. KEENAN.

LETTER BOX.

No. 359,870. Patented M61222, 1887.

WITNESSES r PUEns. Phuwtmw n ner. Washington 0. C.

llnrrsn STATES a'rnr @F'Fl C'tB PATRIOK. J. KEENAN, OF JERSEY CITY, NEWV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JACOB BOLZ, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 359,870, dated March 22, 1887.

Application filed January 22, 188-1. Serial No. 118,313. (No model.)

top thereof instead of on the front.

'vice operates.

To aZZ whom may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK J. KEENAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New J ezsey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Letter-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section of my improved letter-box on the line X X, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the box from front to back. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a modification of the box with the letter-drop on the Fig. 4 is a detail front view ofthe outside turning-knob.

This invention relates to an improvementin letter-boxes, such as are adapted to be fastened on the inside of oftice-doors, or in hallways and the like, and into which letters are dropped through a slit.

Herctofore when it has been desired that the separate tenants of an apartment or office should have their letters delivered by the postman into different private receptacles a separate slit and separate box for each tenant has been necessary.

My invention consists, principally, in combining with a single slit or opening any de sired nu mber ofboxes, which are arranged to be moved past the slit by an outside turning-knob until the desired box is opposite the slit, when the letter may bedropped into it. Said boxes are locked and opened by separate keys.

In the drawings, the letter A represents a casing or box of any desired material, which is permanently fastened to the door or wall B, in which is the slit or opening through which the letters are dropped. The box A is so an ranged that its back wall, D, swings outward. Inside the box A, a short distance from the wall D, and running through to the wall B, is the movable series or nest of letter-boxes E, six in number in the drawings, though this number may be increased or diminished without changing the principle on which my de- This nest of lctterboxes E forms a compact whole, and is hung on the fixed bar G, extending from side to side of the box A, by means of the hangers H H, fast cned to the structure E at each end, and provided with wheels oi: rollers g g, which run along the bar G, and hold the structure E susand at the back are closed by doors F, arranged to be locked when in the closed and upright po sition, and to swing open on pivots h when unlocked, thus giving access to the interior of the box. The front portion of the boxes I is surmounted by a toothed rack, K, which fits into and is moved backward and forward by a toothed wheel, L. This wheel L has a shaft extending through the wall B, rigidly attached to the knob M on the outside of said wall, so that when the k nob M is turned the wheel L moves with it and in the same direction. The knob is numbered, as shown in Fig. 4, on its surface to correspond with the numbers of the various letter-boxes inside, the arrangement being such that when, for example, the number 1 on the knob is under the arrow, as shown, the box No. 1 will be opposite the open slit.

Fig. 3 shows the modified form of my letterbox, arranged so that letters can be dropped through a slit in the top of the box, but in mode of operation substantially the same as the box shown in Fig. 2. This modified form is used when the box is fastened to a solid wall-B, for examplethat the letters must be taken out from the front instead of at the back, as is done when it is fastened to a door. In the drawings, A represents the fixed box, and E the interior movable box divided into the separate letter-boxes running back and forth on wheels V at its bottom, upon one side and near each end, and suspended on the other side from hangers H,containing grooved wheels g,rnnning on the fixed bar G, as heretofore described.

L represents the notched wheel supported by the hanger r, and K is the toothed rack into which the wheel works, while C is the slit through which letters are dropped. The shaft S of the wheel runs through the wall of the box A and expands into or is rigidly connected with the turning outside knob, ll which operates in the same manner as the knob M, already described.

The arrangement of the pivoted box-cover F and the outer wall, D, is the same as that ice described in Fig. 2.

The operation of my device is as follows:

The postman having a letter for box No. 4, l he opened by opening the baekzDand unlockturns the knob M until the number 4 is imnieing the door F, as already described. diately under the arrow. Box No. 4 is by this I claim turning brought opposite the letter-slit and The combination of an outside turning hanthe letter is dropped in. The owner of box dle, an inner toothed Wheel moving therewith. N0. 4 opens the back D, and with his priand a series of letter-boxes moved'by said vate key unlocks the inner box, No. 4, and wheel past an open letterslit, all substantially obtains his letter. In the modified form of as described. box shown in Fig. 3 the operation is substau- PATRICK J. KEENANt I lVitnesses: BERNARD KEENAN, l SAML. R. BETTS.

tially the some. The box ofthe desired number I is brought opposite the slit by turning the 112ll1- dle, the letter is dropped in, and the box can 

